Astrobiology News

Can Planets Be Intelligent?

Four possible domains of planetary intelligence: (a) on a planet with an immature biosphere (such as the Earth during the Archean Eon) there are insufficient feedback loops between life and geophysical coupled systems to exert strong co-evolution; (b) on a planet with a mature biosphere (such as Earth after the Proterozoic) the biosphere exerts strong forcing on the geophysical state establishing full co-evolution of the entire system; this feedback may provide some degree of long-term stabilizing (i.e. Gaian) modulations for the full system; (c) on a planet with an immature technosphere (represented by the current Anthropocene Earth) feedbacks from technological activity produce strong enough forcing on the coupled planetary system to drive it into new dynamical states; these forcings however are unconstrained by intention relative to the health of the civilization producing the technology; (d) on a planet with a mature technosphere, feedback loops between technological activity and biogeochemical and biogeophysical states have been intentionally modified to ensure maximum stability and productivity of the full system; alongside each planetary image, we show a schematic atmospheric spectrum; an immature biosphere would show an atmosphere mostly in equilibrium dominated perhaps by carbon dioxide (CO2); in a mature biosphere life would have changed atmospheric chemistry leading to a highly non-equilibrium state such as perhaps high concentrations of oxygen (O2); in an immature technosphere new ‘pollutant’ species appear, such as CFCs, while industrial activities such as combustion may alter the abundance of other pre-existing gases like CO2 and methane; in a mature technosphere all atmospheric constituents may have their concentrations modified to produce long-term stable and productive states for the full (civilization + biosphere) system; this is represented via a range of possible peaks for different constituents. Image credit: Frank et al., doi: 10.1017/S147355042100029X.
Feb 22, 2022 by News Staff

Conventionally, intelligence is seen as a property of individuals. However, it is also known to be a property of collectives. Examples include collective-decision-making by social insects, slime mould navigating mazes, and even intelligent behavior of individual cells and viruses which are themselves a collective of chemical processes. Humans are also intelligent, and our intelligence primarily derives from our social behavior which is currently global...

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Our ability to explore the cosmos by direct contact has been limited to a small number of lunar and interplanetary missions. However, NASA’s Starlight program points a path forward to send small, relativistic spacecraft far outside our Solar System via standoff directed-energy propulsion. These miniaturized spacecraft are capable of robotic exploration but can also transport seeds and organisms, marking a profound change in our ability to both characterize and expand the reach of known life. Lantin et al. explore the biological and technological challenges of interstellar space biology, focusing on radiation-tolerant microorganisms capable of cryptobiosis. Image credit: University of California, Santa Barbara.

We Must Consider Benefits of Sending Life Outside of Solar System, Researchers Say

Jan 8, 2022 by News Staff

University of California, Santa Barbara’s professors Philip Lubin and Joel Rothman and their colleagues contemplate launching small cryptobiotic lifeforms...

An artist’s conception of the aerial biosphere in the cloud layers of Venus. In this picture, hypothetical microbial life in the clouds of Venus resides inside protective cloud particles and is carried by winds around the planet. Image credit: J. Petkowska.

Clouds of Venus May Be More Habitable than Previously Thought

Dec 21, 2021 by News Staff

Possible lifeforms in the Venusian clouds could be setting off a cascade of chemical reactions that is making the environment much more habitable, according...

Organic and inorganic biomorphs (small abiotic structures that bear a morphological resemblance to living or fossil microbes): (a) asteroidal trichites radiating from central magnetite grains in a natural volcanic glass; (b) organic microspheres obtained from RNA and quartz mixtures under diagenetic conditions; (c) amphiphilic spherical and tube-like vesicles formed by mixed fatty acids and 1-alkanols (C10-C15) in 10 mM CaCl2; (d) coacervate microdroplets prepared in water by mixing PDDA with ATP; (e, f ) chain-forming and twinning proteinoid microspheres obtained by heating mixtures of amino acids; (g, h) apatite particles formed by double diffusion in gelatin mimicking dividing cells and raised polygonal features in embryos; (i) rod-shaped silica particles formed on the walls of basalt fractures injected with supercritical CO2; (j) cryogenic opal filaments and sheets formed in rapidly freezing silica-rich fluids; (k) cryogenic carbonate segmented filaments obtained by freezing of silica-rich alkaline brines; (l) rod-shaped apatite particles forming within organic films in sediments; (m) fluoroapatite particle precipitated in the presence of citrate, mimicking dividing coccoid cells. Image credit: McMahon & Cosmidis, doi: 10.1144/jgs2021-050.

Martian Rocks May Contain Numerous Types of False Biosignatures, Astrobiologists Say

Nov 22, 2021 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the Journal of the Geological Society, University of Edinburgh’s Dr. Sean McMahon and University of Oxford’s Dr. Julie...

Levin et al suggest that we could have more in common with our extraterrestrial neighbors than initially thought. Image credit: Fernando Ribas.

Astrobiologists Call for New Framework in Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Nov 8, 2021 by News Staff

The question of whether we are alone in the Universe has been a source of wonder for humanity for millennia or more. Advances in planetary sciences, astronomy,...

An artist’s impression of a free-floating exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Free-Floating Exoplanets with Subsurface Oceans Could Sustain Life

Oct 1, 2021 by News Staff

Dr. Manasvi Lingam from the Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology and Professor Avi Loeb of Harvard...

This infrared image from JAXA’s Akatsuki orbiter shows night on Venus. Image credit: ISAS / JAXA.

Study: Sunlight Filtering through Venusian Clouds Could Support Earth-Like Photosynthesis

Sep 30, 2021 by News Staff

In a paper published this week in the journal Astrobiology, researchers focused on the possible existence of the Earth-like phototrophy — the process...

Life may have begun shortly after Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. Image credit: Hadeano.

Life on Earth Arose Multiple Times and in Multiple Ways, New Theory Says

Aug 17, 2021 by News Staff

In a new theoretical paper, researchers from the Santa Fe Institute provide a new perspective on the origin of life by arguing that life has emerged many...

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Galileo Project Will Search for ‘Evidence of Extraterrestrial Technological Artifacts’

Jul 28, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of astrophysicists has announced a new scientific project to search for evidence of potential astro-archeological artifacts or active...

Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon’s south pole and creating Saturn’s mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. Tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL / SSI / Cassini Imaging Team.

Enceladus’ Subsurface Ocean Has Various Energy Sources for Microbial Life, Study Suggests

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

In a study published this month in the journal Icarus, planetary researchers from the United States and Germany modeled chemical processes in the subsurface...

An artist’s impression of Barnard’s star b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Identify Closest Stars that Could See Earth as Transiting Exoplanet

Oct 23, 2020 by News Staff

Using data gathered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and ESA’s Gaia satellite, a team of U.S. astronomers has identified 1,004...

An artist’s conception of the HR 858 planetary system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Scientists Identify 24 Potentially ‘Superhabitable’ Exoplanets

Oct 5, 2020 by News Staff

A team of geobiologists and astronomers from the United States and Germany has identified 24 extrasolar planets that may have conditions more suitable...

A composite image of Venus as seen by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft. Image credit: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Astronomers Detect Biosignature Gas Phosphine in Atmosphere of Venus

Sep 14, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected phosphine (PH3) gas...

This SEM image shows a polished thin section of Asuka 12236. The section is about 1 cm (a third of an inch) across. Most of the bright grains in the image are iron-nickel-metal and/or iron-sulfide. The gray is mostly silicate, with the darker gray areas more magnesium-rich, while the lighter gray areas are more iron-rich. The roundish objects, and some fragments of them, that tend to contain most of the small, bright metal grains are called chondrules, which formed as molten droplets. They are set in a very fine-grained matrix, which is where the organic compounds and presolar grains are found. Image credit: Carnegie Institution for Science / Conel M. O’D. Alexander.

Researchers Find Extraterrestrial Amino Acids in Antarctic Meteorite

Aug 31, 2020 by News Staff

A team of astrobiologists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the Carnegie Institution for Science has found a wide diversity of amino acids...

This artist’s impression displays TRAPPIST-1 and its planets reflected in a surface. Image credit: NASA / R. Hurt / T. Pyle.

Extrasolar Planetary Systems Could Have Up to Seven Earth-Like Planets in Their Habitable Zones

Jul 31, 2020 by News Staff

Other stars could have as many as seven Earth-like planets in the absence of farther out giant planets, according to a new study led by the University...

This high-resolution scanning electron microscope image shows an unusual tube-like structural form that is less than 1/100th the width of a human hair in size found in the Martian meteorite ALH84001. Image credit: NASA.

Immune System of Humans, Other Mammals Could Struggle to Fight Extraterrestrial Microorganisms

Jul 23, 2020 by News Staff

In a new study published in the journal Microorganisms, a team of researchers from the UK, the Netherlands and Germany tested how mammalian immune cells...

Westby & Conselice present a cosmic perspective on the search for life and examine the likely number of CETI civilizations in our Milky Way Galaxy by utilizing the latest astrophysical information. Image credit: Angela Yuriko Smith.

Astronomers Say There Could Be 36 Communicating Extraterrestrial Civilizations in Milky Way

Jun 15, 2020 by News Staff

Using the assumption that intelligent life develops on exoplanets in a similar way as it does on Earth, a duo of researchers from the School of Physics...

Cosmic rays. Image credit: Pierre Auger Observatory.

Cosmic Rays May Have Played Key Role in Origin of Life’s Handedness

May 21, 2020 by News Staff

Living organisms comprise a system of molecules organized with specific handedness. Handedness — or chirality — is the geometric property of...

Kipping uses Bayesian statistics to shed light on how extraterrestrial life might evolve in the Universe. Image credit: Dina Dee.

Astronomer Uses Bayesian Statistics to Weigh Likelihood of Complex Life and Intelligence beyond Earth

May 19, 2020 by News Staff

In a new study published this week in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. David Kipping of Columbia University and Flatiron Institute...

An artist’s impression of Barnard’s star b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Exoplanets with Hydrogen-Rich Atmospheres Could Harbor Simple Life Forms

May 5, 2020 by News Staff

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has demonstrated that single-celled microorganisms such as Escherichia coli and...

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